The cost of frozen prawns is greater than the supermarket price ticket, reveals Bill Redmond, in an industry in which seafarers become slaves/

Thailand’s trawlers of terror shame food supply chains

Logisticians have to cope with many variables in their global supply chains but how many realise how intractable, ubiquitous corruption has the potential to wreck their best laid plans, or appreciate that their purblind directors’ acceptance of corruption issues perpetuates unimaginable misery involving people trafficking, slavery and murder? The reaction of an outraged public to the results of such corruption and crime can quickly lead to global boycotts of JIT-supplied goods and so without a robust plan B already in place to source elsewhere, logisticians will have nightmares. That is why corruption in their supply chains should concern them deeply.

Malta’s Maritime Safety Investigation Unit has issued a safety alert following the discovery of significant corrosion on inner strands of a fall wire involved in the falling of of a lifeboat on 10 February 2013. Five seafarers died in the incident which occurred aboard Thomson Majesty while berthed alongside in Santa Crux de La Palma.

Says the safety alert: ” The wire rope had parted approximately where it rested over the topmost sheave, when the davit was in a stowed position.

“The fore and aft davit’s falls were replaced on 22 August 2010 and the next scheduled replacement was August 2014.

“The launching appliance had been dynamically tested in May 2012.

“Initial results of the tests carried out on the parted ends of the wire indicate significant corrosion damage to the inner strands of the wire”.Continue reading »

Heavy weather does not have to be extreme to lead to injuries on the bridge – it’s enough to lack handrails and have improperly stowed equipment. The latest example comes from Marine Safety Forum, MSF, in a safety alert.

Recently on a vessel it was reported that a crewman had taken a fall in the bridge during heavy weather. He suffered only minor injuries.

The incident occurred whilst on sea passage as the vessel was in the process of altering course, the weather although heavy could not be described as extreme and the vessel would have encountered similar conditions on a regular basis.Continue reading »

SafeSpace member Javier Saavedra from Galicia, Spain, has alerted us to a news report of the death of a worker in the ballast of a harbor dredger in a neighboring province.

One crewmember went inside the ballast tank without having previously made a gas check. On entering he lost consciousness and fell down and another crewman attempted to resce him, also losing consciousness.

Eventually a third crewmember went inside wearing a SCBA set and managed to take his two crewmates out. Rescucitation treatment was immediately commenced by the crew and as soon as emergency services showed up they immediately evacuated one of the casualties to hospital suffering from cardiopulmonary arrest.Continue reading »

Gard Norway’s attempts to secure compensation from the Norwegian government for sinking of the stone-carrier Rocknes with loss of 18 lives have been refused by Oslo District court of appeal. Gard, togther with a dozen insurance companies and the vessel’s owner, held that the Norwegian government, through its mapping agency, bore responsibility for the tragedy, and subsequent oil pollution, because a hazard had not been identified on the Norwegian charts in use.

A statement by the mapping agency says: “A district court first ordered the State of Norway (i.e. the Norwegian Coastal Administration and the Norwegian Hydrographic Service) to pay close to NOK 23 million in damages for having failed to include the shoal which the bulk carrier hit, in the Notices to Mariners published by the Norwegian Hydrographic Service.Continue reading »

Poor maintenance and inadequate regulatory oversight sank the 58 metre, 1,577 gross tonne, fish-processing vessel Alaska Ranger, cost five lives and led to the biggest rescue effort in US Coastguard history says the newly released US Coast Guard investigation board report. Some 37 recommendations have been made.

One reason for the loss is that there is no single accepted definition of a ‘fish processing vessel’, which enables avoidance by the fishing industry of meeting safety standards.Continue reading »

Hyperthermia can kill even after the victim is removed from the conditions that caused it is the lesson from a case currently going through the US federal court. Whatever the right and wrongs of the case itself, brought by the widow of a Latvian engineer it is a reminder of a very real danger.

Hyperthermia occurs when the body can no longer control its temperature at a normal level of 37.5–38.3 °Celcius. Symptoms can include dry, red skin, nausea, vomiting, headaches, dizziness and fainting. Unless treated quickly the result can be coma and death.

Piracy drop in the Straits
Malaysia Star
MALACCA: Heightened maritime security along the Straits of Malacca has seen a drop in piracy over the last two years. Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency

Conference to tackle piracy threats
United Press International
“With maritime piracy costing the world an estimated $60-70 million in 2008 and a worrying rise in sea crimes across the Middle East and North Africa region

Men safe but sea swallows big catGold Coast News – Molendinar,Queensland,Australia
The captain of one of the vessels that picked up the men said he was 1km away from the stricken cat when it began sinking at 9.30am.

Hanjin had no safety officer during accidentInquirer.net – Philippines
By Ansbert Joaquin SUBIC BAY FREEPORT ZONE — An incident report on the accident at the Hanjin shipyard that killed two welders and injured three others on

MEXICO CITY, Jan 21 (Reuters) – Mexico reopened all of its main oil exporting ports on Monday after bad weather forced their closure the previous day, the transport ministry said on its Web site.

State: Exxon violated its vowAnchorage Daily News (subscription) – Anchorage,AK,USA
The company’s case in front of the Supreme Court is expected to make the claim that nearly two centuries of American maritime law uphold the company’s